stunted growth.

I once had a manager do a version of this same thing to me.  When I was 18, I worked for a popular retail company, Forever 21.  I had worked there for about eight months as a Sales Associate when a Head Cashier position became available.  I wanted this position so badly!  I approached Stephanie, my Store Manager, and told her that I felt qualified for the position because I had worked there a long time (turnover was pretty high there, so eight months was pretty good), I had two years of cashier experience (Forever 21 + my first job), I was reliable (I never missed one day of work) and my cash drawer had never been off a significant amount (over $1 was considered significant).  She agreed but wanted me to do a “trial run” where I would work in the capacity of Head Cashier for 30 days.  This is where I started to get excited because it sounded promising.  I knew I could really show her what I could do in those 30 days.  But Stephanie then went on to say that this would be in addition to my usual duties as a Sales Associate.  Talk about setting someone up for failure.  How was I supposed to perform two jobs at once?  How was she supposed to see how I would perform as a Head Cashier if I was also being seen as a Sales Associate?

Even though this proposal seemed a little unfair and not standard procedure, I still really wanted the position.  I accepted her offer and started my 30 day trial period.  And as anyone would expect, it was a little difficult managing two workloads.  All of my Sales Associate duties took precedence, because that’s what I was getting paid to do.  Also, with my store being very large and always busy, it was difficult for me to find time away from the registers and my growing pile of clothes that needed to be put back on the racks, and find time to impress Stephanie with my Head Cashier skills.  I would bust my butt to only scrounge up maybe two hours of time to work as Head Cashier.  I was not given any guidance other than Stephanie occasionally walking by and saying things like, “Rachel, why don’t you organize this jewelry display?  You have to really go above and beyond to show me you can do this position.”  All while I'm busily ringing customers up.  My coworkers were also never informed of my trial period.  No one ever acknowledged that I was supposed to be acting as Head Cashier.  At the end of my trial period I was told that I wasn’t a good fit, to try again next time and to be grateful for the experience.  (Two weeks later Stephanie hired one of her friends for the position).

 This is a good example of a leader who does not value the growth of their employees.  I confided in Stephanie and expressed an interest in progressing with the company.  What I was hoping for in return was her guidance in developing my skills.  But I learned that she had a different agenda, which was to use her Store Manager title to benefit herself.  Great leaders know that investing time, money and effort in the development of their employees is beneficial.  Leaders should help their employees achieve goals they have set for themselves (either personal or company related), because when they achieve these goals and grow, it creates a winning mindset.  And all companies want to have employees with winning mindsets.  My goal at that time in my life was to move to a position with more responsibility.  I had been working for two years and had graduated from high school, so I knew I was ready for the next step.  Soon after this incident I moved on to a job that was a better fit for me and I stayed there for 3 1/2 years.  If Stephanie would have invested time in her employees that could have been her 3 1/2 years.